Week of December 12-16

Important Dates:

Monday 12/12 Bowling

Tuesday 12/13 Social Studies Test

Wednesday 12/14 Bowling Test

Thursday 12/15 Math test (Csorba's math class)

Friday 12/16 Spelling Test

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget we go bowling on Monday. It is encouraged for your child to bring a sack lunch since they might be too full to eat lunch after bowling. Students can bring $5 to buy a snack at the bowling alley.

A permission slip is coming home Monday for your child to watch Jim Carrey's, The Grinch. We are doing some Grinch related activities Friday to kick off winter break. Thank you to those parents who are bringing in treats for us on Friday!

Spelling
This week we will have Holiday words to study. Pretest and homework will go home Monday. The homework and test is due on Friday.

Reading

We will spend this week finishing up our novels we've been reading in our guided reading groups. While doing so, we will work on visualizing and evaluating the text.

Science

We will learn about the water cycle this week.

Social Studies

Thank you to Dr. Tiede for coming to talk to our class about being a community leader. We enjoyed your presentation!!! The test for Present Day DG and Chapter 12 (lessons 1 and 2 only) will be Tuesday. Study guide in the social studies folder. We will begin chapter 3, Culture, when we return from break.

Mrs. Csorba's Math class

Students will take a CYP on multiplication of larger numbers on Wednesday and the Ch. 4 test is Thursday. They also should start practicing x12's. They will test on these when we return from break. X11's are this week. We will spend Monday and Tuesday practicing multiplication.

December 5-9

Important Dates

*Spelling pretest Monday

*Spelling test Friday

*English test Friday

Classroom Chatter

First of all, thank you to all the parents that came in to meet with me at Parent Teacher Conferences. It was a pleasure sitting down with you to discuss your child and their progress in 3rd grade. Don't forget you can always email me or call me if you ever want to talk about any questions or concerns! jcsorba@ccsd66.org 630-783-5092. :)

Second...a special "visitor" arrived in our classroom today (Friday). Our elf will be with us the next 2 weeks, watching who is naughty and who is nice! I hope your child told you about his arrival today. They were SO EXCITED this morning. We still need to give him a name! Help your child brainstorm a good name for our special friend! ;)

Spelling

L.10's words are high frequency words. The pretest will be Monday. The homework packet will come home Monday. The homework and test are due on Friday.

English

We will finish up our Noun unit. The test is scheduled for Friday 12/9. A study guide is in the English folder.

Reading

Today (Friday) we had Mrs. Vanni come speak to the 3rd graders about quilting. It tied in so nicely with the story we just read, The Keeping Quilt. Ask your child about it!

This week we will be evaluating and visualizing while we read Dogzilla and our chapter books!

Science

We will begin our next unit of study on weather!

Social Studies

I am moving the Downers Grove test to 12/13. We are adding lessons 1 and 2 from chapter 12 in our social studies books which talk about local governments. Last week we learned how our local government provides us with the services of safety, transportation, recreation, and education. This week we will learn who our community leaders are. We are very excited for Dr. Tiede to come talk to our class this week. A Superintendent is a community leader. He will come talk to us Thursday!!!

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will continue with multiplication of greater numbers. This week, we will be multiplying by 3 digit by 1 digit, multiplying with money, multiplying 4 digit by 1 digit, looking at patterns in multiplication and estimation with multiplication. The students will take a mad minute in x10's.

We are going to finish chapter 4 before winter break and will be testing on this chapter the week of the 12th. Date still to be determined. We have been playing a lot of games in math to help us practice our basic facts too. :)

Week of November 28 - December 2

Important Dates:

*Conferences 11/28, 11/29, & 11/30

*Scholastic Book Orders due Thursday 12/1

*Matter Test Thursday 12/1

*Spelling Test Thursday 12/1

*No school Friday 12/2

Classroom Chatter: I wish everyone a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving! Please check out our videos of the First Thanksgiving presented by Mrs. Csorba's class. :) Didn't they do a great job?!?

Book orders went home on Tuesday. The are due by Thursday, 12/1. If you are interested in placing an order for a present and want me to set the books aside when they arrive for a later pick up, send me an email. Books make great presents and stocking stuffers! ;)

Parent/teacher conferences are being held this week. Please make sure you arrive at your scheduled time. Thanks in advance! I'm looking forward to meeting with all of you!

Spelling

This week we will study lesson 9 words. They are spelled with long o. The pretest will be Monday. The test will be Thursday. Homework will come home Monday and due on Thursday.

English

We will continue with nouns. This week, we will study about special plural nouns and singular and plural possessive nouns.

Reading
This week we will continue with our guided reading groups as we discuss the strategies we've learned. We also will start a new story, The Keeping Quilt, to teach author's point of view and author's purpose. We also will be having a guest speaker come Thursday to talk to us about quilting!!!!There will be vocab quiz on the words on Thursday.

Science

We will take the chapter 11 test on Matter on Thursday. The study guide is in the science folder.

Social Studies

We will take the Modern Day Downers Grove test the following week, 12/6.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will take a mad minute on x9's. We will learn how to multiply greater numbers this week.

Week of November 21-25

Important Dates:

No school 11/23, 11/24, 11/25-Thanksgiving Break

Conferences 11/28, 11/29, 11/30

Classroom Chatter

We had a MARBLE-ous time at our 1st Marble Party last week. I'm so proud of my class for earning their 1st party for good classroom behavior. Look at how cute they all are!!!! A special thanks to those who brought in healthy treats for the

class to enjoy.

We also had a WONDERFUL time at our DG field trip today. Thanks to Mrs. Spencer, Mrs. Flynn, Mrs. Scheck, Mrs. Socha, Mrs. Williams, and Mrs. Obeid for coming with us! Here is our class picture at Linscott Cemetary! I had a great time with the students today too. It is one of my favorite field trips!!! ;)

Parent/teacher conferences will be held the week of 11/28. Please be on time for your conference...they are only 15 minutes long and it is very easy to get off schedule. I thank you in advance for your cooperation! I am looking forward to meeting with parents and discussing your child's progress thus far in 3rd grade!

Scholastic Book orders will come home Tuesday, 11/22. There are a ton of great chapter books for your child to select from. Chapter books make great presents or stocking stuffers! :) If you want me to set aside any books that you want to give your child as a present, send me an email. When the book orders arrive, I can set aside the books and we can arrange for you to pick them up at our front office.

Spelling

Due to the very short week, there won't be a spelling list this week. We will work on word analogies on Monday and Tuesday.

Reading

We are continuing to read our novels and discussing previous strategies as well as discussing story elements of character, setting, and plot. We also will be working on a reader's theater play on the First Thanksgiving. Tune in next week for the video!!! ;)

English

We will be sharing our Thanksgiving stories this week. The students wrote a story from the turkey's point of view. Ask your child about it. They can share it with the family on Thanksgiving. They did a wonderful job!!!

Science

We will finish up Matter. The test is scheduled for Thursday 12/1. A study guide will be in the science folder.

Social Studies.

We will finish up our Modern Day Downers Grove packet.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

Students will be taking a mad minute on x 0's and x 1's this week. These will be the only facts on the mad minute. We will do some turkey math and start multiplication by 1 and 2 digits this week.

Week of November 14-18

Important Dates:

*Marble Party Tuesday 11/15

*Trimester 1 ends Friday 11/18

*Downers Grove Field Trip Friday 11/18

Classroom Chatter:
Our class earned their 1st Marble Party for good behavior. We will celebrate Tuesday afternoon over a movie and healthy snacks and drinks. If you can send something in for the class, that would be great!

Spelling

No spelling again this week. We will use this time to learn about antonyms and analogies.Check out our Synonym Rolls we made in class on Friday!

Reading

We will continue with our novel studies. Students will be working on story elements (character, setting, and plot) and reviewing the previous strategies (predicting, summarizing, inferring...etc).

English

We will take a break from our study of Nouns. We will spend this week writing about Thanksgiving from a Turkey's point of view. After the Thanksgiving break, we will resume Nouns!

Science

We will continue with States of Matter and learn how matter changes. We will have the Matter test after Thanksgiving break. It is scheduled for Friday, 12/4.

Social Studies

We will continue our study of modern day DG and chapter 12-local government.

Mrs. Csorba's math class:
We will take a mad minute on all the facts (squares, twos, fives, threes, fours, sixes, sevens, and eights this week. When we return from Thanksgiving break we will do 9's, 10's, 11's, and 12's (one fact each week). Don't forget we will have the Chapter 3 Test on Tuesday and the Trimester test on chapters 1-3 on Friday.

Week of November 7-11

Important Dates

*Box Top Winner Pizza Party Thursday 11/10

*No School Friday 11/11 Veterans' Day

Classroom Chatter

Parent/teacher conferences are scheduled for the last week of November. Most of you signed up for your conference on Curriculum Night. Today, your child came home with the confirmation sheet. Please confirm our appointment by filling out the bottom portion of the paper and return to school asap! Thanks!

Don't forget that we don't have school Friday for Veterans' Day. Thursday our class will enjoy a pizza party lunch! We turned in the most Box Tops for 3rd grade! Thank you so much for those that turned them in. This has been my 5th year in a row winning!!! ;) Please continue to collect box tops, pop tabs, soup labels, and Promenade Mall receipts!!!! Thanks in advance.

Spelling

This week in spelling we will take a break from our spelling lists and work on synonyms and antonyms. There will not be a packet of homework for "spelling" due this week, but there maybe a homework page the will come home a night or two to practice synonyms and antonyms.

English

We will continue with Unit 2 Nouns. This week we will focus our study on common and proper nouns, nouns in the subject, singular and plural nouns, nouns with -es, and special plural nouns.

Reading

We will begin a novel study. While reading our novels we will focus on story elements such as character, setting, plot, problem/resolution.

Science

This week we will continue our study on solids, liquids, and gases.

Social Studies

We will take a quiz on the History of DG on Thursday, 11/10. A study guide is in the SS folder. We also will continue our study of DG by learning about present day DG. This ties nicely into Chapter 12, Your Local Government, in our textbooks. We will be learning about both at the same time.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will take a mad minute on 6's, 7's and 8's. We also continue with chapter 3. This week we will be doing subtraction with regrouping of greater numbers. We are 1/2 though chapter 3 and the trimester is also coming to an end! That means we will be having a chapter test coming up as well as a cumulative trimester test on chapters 1-3. The CYP for lessons 6-9 will be Thursday, 11/10. The chapter 3 test will be Tuesday 11/15. The trimester test will be Friday 11/18. To review for the trimester test on chapters 1-3 practice the problems on the following pages: 64-66, 92-94, and 122-124.

Week of October 31-November 4

Important Dates:

*Spelling pretest Monday 10/31

*Happy Halloween Monday 10/31

*Spelling test Friday 11/4

Classroom Chatter

Halloween Monday will be business as usual at school...but we hope to do some fun activities in honor of the day!

We had a great time at our Halloween party on Friday!!!! Thanks to all the moms who planned a SPOOKTACULAR party! It was ghoulish!!!

Check out this fun online pumpkin carving website. Make a jack-o-lantern without any mess! ;)

http://www.onlinepumpkincarving.com/

Spelling

L. 8 words are spelled with a three-letter cluster and unexpected consonant patterns. The pretest will be Monday. The homework will come home on Monday and is due on Friday.

Reading

We will continue with cause and effect this week while we read the story, Cliffhanger. There will be a vocabulary quiz on Thursday. The list will be in the reading folder after Monday.

English

We will begin Unit 2, Nouns.

Science

We will continue with matter. This week we will study the 3 states of matter.

Social Studies

We will continue with our Downers Grove unit.

Mrs. Csorba's math class. We will take a mad minute on 4's this week. We will continue in chapter 3 this week. However, Monday, we will do some fun pumpkin math for Halloween! :)

Thursday we will take a CYP on lessons 1-5.

Week of October 24-28

Important Dates:

*Spelling pretest Monday 10/24

*Early dismissal Thursday 10/27

*Halloween parade and party Friday 10/28

*Spelling test Friday 10/28

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget early dismissal Thursday at 11am.

Friday is our Halloween parade and party. The parade will begin at 1:00. Students may bring their costumes to school. We will change in the classroom. We will have the girls in one room and the boys in another room. No one is allowed to go to the bathroom to change.

Spelling

This week's words are Halloween words. We will pretest Monday. The homework is due Friday. The test is on Friday.

English

We will work on descriptive writing by describing our houses! We will share them this week too!

Reading

We will work on the cause and effect strategy. We will practice this strategy when we read the story, Cliffhanger.

Science

We will continue with chapter 11 and learning about matter.

Social Studies

We will continue our study of the history of Downers Grove.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will take a mad minute in with threes. We will begin chapter 3, addition and subtraction. This week we will focus our studies on front-end estimation and addition of larger numbers and regrouping.

Week of October 17-21

Important Dates:

*Spelling pretest Monday 10/17

*Book Fair Thursday 10/20

*Spelling Test Friday 10/21

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget Thursday evening is our Book Fair in the gym! Come and check it out if you can!!!

Spelling

L. 7's words are spelled with long O. There will be a pretest Monday. The homework will be due Friday. The test will be on Friday.

Reading

We will finish up inference this week. We will be doing some inferencing activities using chapter books and short stories. We also will write an extended response from Mulan.

English

We will spend this week talking and practicing how add description to our writing. For example, we will talk about how we can use our 5 senses when we write to describe things. We will learn about similies and metaphores to help our descriptions too.

Science

We will begin our next unit, States of Matter.

Social Studies

We will begin our next unit, Downers Grove.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will take a mad minute on "fives" this week. Really, there were only 4 new facts to learn. :)

The mad minute will also have doubles and squares as well. We will finish up chapter two this week. We will take a CYP on the lessons 6-8 on Wednesday, review for the test on Thursday, and Chapter 2's test will be Friday.

Week of October 10-14

Important Dates:

No school Monday or Tuesday!

*Science test Thursday 10/13

*Vocab quiz Thursday 10/13

*Book orders due Friday 10/14

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget there is no school Monday (Columbus day) or on Tuesday (Teacher Institute). Have a great, long weekend!

Book orders went home today (Friday 10/7). They are due on Friday 10/14. You can order online or send in your order with a check. Thanks!

Spelling

No spelling this week due to the shortened week.

English

We will finish up with our papers we are writing with our Me Bags. We will begin another writing unit at the end of the week. We will spend a week doing descriptive writing.

Reading

Our continued focus will be on inferring this week as we practice using many reading strategies to improve our reading. The inferences we make will be about text, characters and unfamiliar words. There will be a vocabulary quiz (from the story Ballad of Mulan) on Thursday.

This week we learned about "Good Fit" books. Ask your child about it!

Science

We will take a test on Ecosystems on Thursday, 10/13.

Social Studies

We will begin our next unit of study, Downers Grove, next week!

Mrs. Csorba's math class:

We will take a mad minute on two's and squares on Wednesday. We also will continue with chapter 2. This week we will learn some more mental math strategies, learn how to estimate sums and differences, and add and subtract money. A look ahead to next week, the week of 17th-21st, we will probably take the next CYP on Wednesday 10/19 and the ch. 2 test Friday 10/21.

Week of October 3-7

Important Dates:

*Spelling pretest Monday 10/3

*Spelling test Friday 10/7

Classroom Chatter:

Thank you to everyone who participated in the magazine drive!!!!!!

Spelling:

L. 5 words are more long vowel words. There will be a pretest Monday. The test and homework will be due on Friday.

Reading

We will focus on the reading strategy inferencing. The students will use basal reading stories, supplemental short stories, and possibly novels to extend their practice of understanding what they read. Students will learn new vocabulary words from stories they are reading. We will also continue to work on an extended response where we use ideas from the text combined with our own ideas to answer a question.

English

We will begin our first writing unit and learn how to write a 5 paragraph paper. You child will be bringing home a "Me Bag" on Monday to help with this assignment. It is a brown paper bag that they will have to fill with 3 things that help describe them. For example in Mrs. Csorba's Me Bag you will find a golf ball, a book, and a camera. :)

Science

We will finish up with chapter 4 lesson 4 and learn how ecosystems can change.

Social Studies

We will have a quiz on Hemispheres on Wednesday. The study guide is in the social studies folder.

Mrs. Csorba's Math:

We will begin multiplication mad minutes on Monday. Students will be quizzed on the "squares" with 50 problems. They will have 3 minutes. They will have Wednesday and Friday to also "pass" the test if need be. We also began chapter 2 on Friday. Chapter 2 teaches about addition and subtraction concepts. There will be a Check Your Progress on Thursday covering material from lessons 1-5. They will be allowed to use their "notes" and textbook. It will be 20 multiple choice questions.

Week of September 26-30

Important Dates:

*Johnny Appleseed's birthday Monday 9/26

*Spelling pretest Monday 9/26

*Magazine Turn In 9/27, 9/29

*Picture Day Thursday 9/29

*English test Thursday 9/29

*Spelling test Friday 9/30

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget Monday is Johnny Appleseed's birthday. A note went home last week about how we will celebrate Johnny's pioneer life! Please send in an apple that is peeled, cut, and cored! We will use it to make homemade applesauce! Thanks to Kyle, Gia, and Noah for sending in the supplies we need! ;)

Don't forget to bring your picture day money and your best smile :) on Thursday for Picture Day!

Spelling

L. 5's words are spelled with short and long vowels. There will be a pretest Monday. The test and homework will be due on Friday.

Reading

We will continue to highlight summarizing and sequencing using materials differentiated for our classroom's various reading levels, and will be extending our knowledge through written responses. We will also assess on their ability to sequence events from text.

English

We will finish up Unit One: What is a Sentence with a test on Thursday 9/29. A study guide is in the English folder. I will send home your child's English textbook to help with studying.

Science

We will continue with chapter 4. This week we will look at lesson 3 and how living things survive in an ecosystem.

Social Studies

We will spend the week learning about the hemispheres of our world.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will take a CYP on Monday on lessons 6-10. We will play a review game on Tuesday. Wednesday we will take a test on chapter 1. A study guide is in the math folder and went home last week. Use it as a guide to find practice problems to study for. We will start multiplication mad minutes next week (week of October 3). A letter about this will come home on Monday.

Our next unit of study will be Chapter 2, Addition and Subtraction Concepts.

Week of September 19-23

Important Dates:

*Spelling Pretest Monday 9/19

*Continents and Oceans Quiz Thursday 9/22

*Spelling Test Friday 9/23

*Magazine Turn In dates 9/27, 9/29

Classroom Chatter

Thank you to the many of you the ordered Scholastic books! I will send them home with your child as soon as they arrive! Book orders for October will come home in the beginning of the month. I usually send order forms home every month!

Spelling

Lesson 4's words are spelled with a vowel-consonant e pattern. There will be a pretest Monday and the test on Friday. Homework will be due on Friday.

Reading

Now we will start to put the reading strategies we have learned to great use while reading various types of literature. We will always be reviewing/using all of the strategies, but for the coming weeks we will highly focus on the strategies of sequencing and summarizing. The students will use basal reading stories, supplemental short stories, and possibly novels to extend their practice of understanding what they read. As a third grade we are really highlighting oral and written responses to what was read and will integrate this throughout.

English

We will continue with unit 1. We will continue practicing finding the subject of the sentence. We also will work on locating the predicate of the sentence. Check out this song, Mr. Morton, that we sang to help us learn about the subject and predicate of the sentence. Click HERE.

Science

This week we will study lesson 2, What Are Some Types of Ecosystems.

Social Studies

We will take a quiz on the 7 continents and 5 oceans on Thursday. A study guide is in the social studies folder. Your child does not need to know how to spell the names. There will be a word bank. They will be expected to spell them correctly since there is a word bank for them to use. Click HERE to play the Continents Song we sang in class! ;)

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

We will take a mad minute in subtraction. Students will need to answer 40 subtraction problems in 2 minutes time. We will also spend this week finish up chapter 1. I plan on giving the 2nd CYP next Monday, 9/26. We will play a review game on 9/27. The test for Chapter 1 will be Wednesday 9/28.

September 12-16

Important Dates:

*Magazine Kick-off Monday 9/12

*Spelling Pretest Monday 9/12

*Spelling Test Friday 9/16

*Book orders due Friday 9/16

Classroom Chatter

Scholastic book order forms will come home today (Friday). The due date is Friday, 9/16. Attached to the orders will be a pink information sheet on how to order books online. (We get a free book for the classroom every time a parent places and order online AND it is so much easier for me to place orders!) I strongly encourage you to try online ordering. It is safe and secure. Please know you may still send a check and the paper order to school with your child in an envelope as well and I will enter the orders online! Thanks in advance for your orders! Great books to buy for 20 minutes of reading!

Spelling

L. 3 words are short vowel words. Pretest Monday. The test is Friday. Homework will be due Friday.

English

We will learn about subjects and predicates.

Reading

Next week we will continue to teach the students how to utilize the essential reading strategies. In our classes we will demonstrate how the application of these strategies will maximize student comprehension of a range of literary materials.

Science

We spent last week getting to know our text book with some "textbook mapping" activities. This week, we will begin chapter 4, lesson 1 on ecosystems.

Social Studies

We will continue our study of map skills and learn about the continents and oceans of our world!

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class:

TUESDAY (no math Monday due to Magazine Kick off Assembly) we will take our first mad minute (aka timed test) in addition facts. Students will have 2 minutes to answer 40 basic math facts. If they do not earn 100%, they will have Wednesday and Friday to try again. We also will be taking our first "Check Your Progress" on Tuesday. (I know it says "Monday" in assignment books. I forgot about No Math on Monday). These CYP's are graded assignments. Students are allowed and encouraged to use their "notes" we took in their journals and math text books. For this 1st CYP, I will "guide" them and show them how to look at their textbook and notes for help, if needed. They are usually 20 questions. Please review lessons 1, 3, and 4 (pages 36, 40, and 42) if your child wants to prepare. The problems on the CYP look like the practice problems in the textbook or the workbook pages. Remember there are no retakes on graded work.

We will spend the rest of the week continuing in chapter 1 working with numbers.

Week of September 5-9

Important Dates

*Mon. 9/5: No School: Labor Day

* Tues. 9/6: Spelling: Pretest List 2

* Thurs. 9/8: MAPS testing: Reading

*Fri. 9/9: Spelling: List 2 Test

Social Studies: Directions Quiz

Classroom Chatter

*Curriculum Night: It was so great to see so many of you at Thursday night's Curriculum Night. Thank you for sharing your night with us as we went over 3rd grade with you. If were unable to come, I sent any notes home with your child today. I will also sign you up for a conference time and notify you of that date as is gets closer. If it does not work for you, we can reschedule. Thank you!

*Donations: If you took a baseball off of our "Can You Pitch in and Help" board at open house or curriculum night, thank you for your donations. You can send in your chosen item at any time. Thank you for "pitching in and helping!"

*A calendar came home Friday (and if you came to Curriculum Night, you received a September calendar). Please initial 20 days that your child reads in the month of September. This is worth 10 points in reading. You may turn it in as soon as 20 days of reading for 20 minutes is complete. The due date will be Monday, Oct. 3.

Our Week:

*Reading: The third grade starts off our reading curriculum by teaching the students to use various reading strategies. We model the use of these strategies while reading high interest picture books to the class. We then will spend the year extending the use of these strategies while reading a variety of literary materials to aid in comprehension. This coming week, we will learn about predicting, inferring, and visualizing.

*English: We will focus on ch 1, The Sentence. We will study the four types of sentences this week. They are statement, question, exclamation, and command.

*Spelling: We will work on list 2: short vowel words. There will be a pretest on Tuesday and the test will be on Friday. Due to the shortened week, your child will have 2 homework assignments due Friday.

*Social Studies: We will continue to work on map skills as we focus on cardinal and intermediate directions and the compass rose. We will have a short quiz on these skills on Friday 9/9. Look for a study guide coming home on Tuesday.

*Science: We will begin our science unit on ecosystems soon! This is chapter 4 in the textbook.

Mrs. Csorba's Math Class

A "Math News" blue piece of paper came home Friday. Please review the responsibilities with your child (we did go over them in class today). Both parent and child are to sign the sheet and return to school on Tuesday. Don't forget to cover your math textbook!

This week in math we will begin chapter 1, Place Value. Students will also be starting an addition "mad minute" timed test. They will need to answer 40 addition problems in 2 minutes time.

Week of August 29-September 2

Important Dates:

3rd Grade Curriculum Night Thursday 9/1

Classroom Chatter

It has been a pleasure getting to know your child this week! First two days were filled with getting to know each other and our great school! We have a great class! I know we will have a wonderful year together!!!

My Blog: Each week, I will email you the link to check my blog. I will update what we are learning and upcoming important dates and events. You should also check your child's math teacher's blog. Please feel free to email me with any questions or comments about the blog. This a great way to keep open communication between school and home.

Curriculum Night: Third Grade curriculum night will be on Thursday, September 1st at 6:30 pm. Please meet in the multipurpose/lunch room or gym (there will be signs leading you where to go). This will be an informative night to learn more about third grade. Hope to see you there!

Students have some homework this weekend. I really try not to give homework on the weekends. It isn't due until Tuesday. They have a sheet in their binder: How I spent My Summer Vacation.

Students are also to get the Highlights sheet signed and returned. Mark YES or NO. The class gets FREE stuff even if all responses are NO!!! ;)

Please empty the "KEEP AT HOME" folder in the binder every day! Keep all other papers in the folders. Thank you!

Please have your child bring in a hanger and t-shirt for a project this week. The shirt can be any shirt and won't be "ruined" in the project!

Reading: We will spend this week doing "Recipe for Success" to get us excited for reading.

English: We will begin with Unit 1, which covers the four types of sentences. We will do daily work with various punctuation lessons as we work on our D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language).

Spelling: This week in spelling we will start with Lesson 1. These are "Back to School" words. We will pretest on Monday and pass out a homework packet due Friday. We will be taking one of the homework sheets for a grade. On Friday we will have our first test worth 20 points.

Social Studies: We will begin our maps unit. We will start with directions (north, east, south, west, NE, NW, SE, SW) and the compass rose.

Math-for Mrs. Csorba's math class only
We will have our first class on Thursday. We will begin chapter 1 Place Value. Students should review their addition and subtraction basic facts. We will have our first mad minute on basic addition facts the following week starting 9/6.

On Wednesday, August 24th, please join us for the District Open House. During the hours of 9-11 a.m. you can come visit our classroom, pick your desk, find your locker, drop off your supplies, and meet your teacher!

I look forward to meeting you!!!!

Week of June 6th

Important Dates:
School Picnic Monday 6/6

Last Day of School Tuesday 6/7

Classroom Chatter

PICNIC: Our 3rd grade picnic will be on Monday, June 6th. A hot dog lunch will be provided. If your child does not want to eat a hog dog, please send them with an alternate cold lunch. There will not be cafeteria hot lunch service.

YEARBOOKS: Yearbooks will be handed out to students on June 7th. Any students who did not purchase a yearbook may do so on Tuesday; they will go on sale after morning announcements. The cost will be $11.00 and children wishing to purchase should have exact amount. Checks can be made out to Prairieview. There is a limited supply. Prairieview yearbook orders were not paid for at registration. There will also be autograph pages for anyone who did not purchase a yearbook.

Week of May 30-June 3

Important Dates:

*Monday 5/30 No school Memorial Day

*Tuesday 5/31 Talent Show

*Monday 6/6 Picnic

*Tuesday 6/7 Last Day of School and Report Cards

Classroom Chatter

As our year is coming to an end, we will be cleaning up our room and collecting textbooks. Please make sure if you have any library books or textbooks at home, please return ASAP! Thank you!

The raffle for Japan has just begun. A letter was sent home on Wednesday, with the list of raffle items and raffle tickets. If you wish to participate, just fill in the tickets, put them in an envelope with the money, and return it to your classroom teacher. All tickets must be turned in by June 3rd. We will have the raffle at the all school assembly on June 6th. Thank you so much for your support.

Reading

We will spend this week reading the storying, Raising Dragons. Our last day of reading will be on Friday. Students will work on reading strategies we've done all year. We also will be doing Reader's Theater. Thank you to all parents who came to our magic show last week!!! For summer, it is so important that your child continues to read daily for at least 20 minutes!!!

English

We will finish this week up with our descriptive writing of a superhero.

Science

We will spend this week studying about the scientific method and inquiry. We will not test on this unit.

Social Studies

We will spend the week learning some map skills and creating our own map!

Math

We will spend this week reviewing division. If time allows, we will do some algebra. A note will come home with your child's report card regarding their math placement for next year.

Week of May 23-27

Important Dates:
*Magic Show Tuesday 5/24
*Walk for Japan Tuesday 5/24
*Bowling Field Trip Wednesday 5/25
*Science Test Friday 5/27
*Spelling Test Friday 5/27

Classroom Chatter
Don't forget that we will be going bowling on Wednesday morning from 9-11am.

Spelling
This week's words are more commonly misspelled third grade words. The test is Friday and homework will be due Friday. This is our last week of spelling. The homework will be to write a sentence for each word and abc order.


Reading
Mrs. Csorba's Reading Class of Magnificent Magicians invite you to our Magic Show on Tuesday from 8:30-9:30am. Don't forget to email me by Monday to reserve your seat! jcsorba@ccsd66.org! We will be working on reader's theater this week and finishing up our Magic Unit by practicing all our strategies!

English
We will do some descriptive writing this week!

Science
The test for ch. 14 will be Friday, 5/27. A study guide went home last week and is in the science folder!

Social Studies
Ask your child about the LIFE game we are playing to understand economics better!!! We will also begin a maps skills unit. It will be the last social studies unit of the year!

Math
We will be working on long division this week. Some of the lessons we will cover will be zeros in the quotient, order of operations and finding the mean. We will continue practicing long division with remainders. The following week, we will take a CYP on the lessons we've covered.

Week of May 16-20

Important Dates:
*Social Studies Test Thursday 5/19

*Spelling Test Friday 5/20

*Magic Show Friday 5/20

*Walk for Japan 5/24

Classroom Chatter

Don’t forget to sign up for the 2 mile Walk Day on Tuesday, May 24^th at Prairieview School. All proceeds from the event will go to the American Red Cross to help the victims of the earthquake in Japan. There will also be a raffle to help raise money for the cause, and any donations would be appreciated. (gift cards, sport items, games, services, small goodies). Anyone who would like to volunteer on May 24^th, please e-mail Mrs. Cavoto ccavoto@ccsd66.org or Mrs. Sulima Ssulima@ccsd66.org to let them know.Let us know if you would like to volunteer on May 24 from 3:30-5:00. We could use the extra help!

PS My son, Jack and I will be there!!!

Spelling

This week is lesson 25. These words are a list of commonly misspelled third grade words. Some may be a repeat of a previous lesson. The homework is due Friday and the test is Friday. This week's homework will be to write the words 3x each in cursive. Also, make a word search using either www.puzzlemaker.com or pencil and paper. I will provide the graph paper.

Reading

We will continue with our magic unit. We are reviewing all our strategies we learned throughout the year. Look for information about a Magic Show to come home!!!

English

We will spend the week doing descriptive writing.

Science

We will finish up chapter 14 with how color and light are related.

Social Studies

We will finish up our economy unit with a test on Thursday. A study guide went home last week. It is in the social studies folder.

Math

We will finish longer multiplication this week. We will do a CYP on multiplication of 4 digits by 1 digit and 2 digits by 2 digits on Tuesday. There will not be a test on multiplication. The rest of the week, we will begin long division with remainders. Students will take their final mad minute this week. It is a division mix. Even though we are finished testing multiplication and division facts, it is still very important to keep practicing over the summer!!!

Week of May 9-13

Important Dates:

*Spelling Test Friday 5/13

*Early Dismissal Friday 5/13

Classroom Chatter:

We have been enjoying Jr. Achievement with Mr. Wilcoxen. He will be coming to our class Monday this week! Ask your child about it!

Don't forget Friday is an early dismissal!!

Spelling

L. 24 words are contractions. The homework will be due on Friday. Please make sure it is in cursive. There will be a pretest Monday and a test on Friday.

Reading

We will finish up fairy tales with some reader's theater. Students will be performing their fractured fairy tale on Tuesday. Wednesday, we will begin a unit on magic! We will continue reviewing all our skills and strategies we learned throughout this year!

English

We will continue expository writing. Students will be writing about a what they would do if they had a robot!

Science

We will learn about light this week.

Social Studies

We will continue with our economy unit and learn about goods, services, supply and demand.

Math

We will take a mad minute in division 12. We will take a CYP on mulitplication of two digits by one digit, multiplication with regrouping and three digits times one digit, and multiply money on Tuesday. We will continue with multiplication this week. We will learn four digit multiplication and multiplication of two digits by two digits.

Week of May 2-6

Important Dates:

*Reading vocab quiz Wed. 5/4

*Spelling test Friday 5/6

Classroom Chatter

We began Jr. Achievement last week. Mr. Wilcoxen is our volunteer. He taught us about zones this week. We learned about some zones like farming, industrial, residential, business, and multipurpose. Ask your child about it. He will visit our class 4 more times this year!

Spelling

This week's words begin with a or be. There will be a pretest on Tuesday (since Monday there is no reading due to MAPS tests). The test is Friday. The homework is due Friday. Remember, all spelling homework and tests are done in cursive now.

Reading

We started our Fairytale unit last week after we finished up some poetry work. I pushed back the vocab quiz for fairy tales to Wednesday, 5/4. The list is in the reading folder in the binders.

English

We will continue to work on expository writing. We finished our pen pal letters to 2nd grade and will mail them this week. We look forward to hearing from them!

Science

We will begin the next unit of study of heat, light, and sound. This is chapter 14.

Social Studies

We will continue with the economy unit. Lesson 2 teaches us all about making economic choices and what opportunity cost it.

Math

We will begin ch. 4 multiplication. We will not cover everything in this chapter. The check your progresses and chapter test will be modified by me, based on what I will be teaching. Feel free to do any of the lessons or pages we skip! We will take a mad minute in division 11.

Week of April 25-29

Important Dates:

Spring Maps Testing 4/27 & 5/2

Thursday 4/28 Science Test

Thursday 4/28 Take Your Child to Work Day

Classroom Chatter

This Wednesday and next Monday our class will be take the spring MAPS test. We will do the reading portion on Wednesday of this week. Next Monday will be the math MAPS test. Please encourage your child to do their best and review their goals they made with their reading and math teacher to increase their scores!

Thursday is Take Your Child to Work Day. If you child is planning on going to work with Mom or Dad, please let us know! What a great opportunity!!! We also will be taking the science test that day. Please know that they can just make it up on Friday. No worries!

Spelling

L. 22 words end in er or le. The test will be Friday. We will be sending home a cursive practice page of the spelling words. All homework and tests will be written and graded using cursive from now on.

English

We will continue working on expository writing. Students will also begin writing a letter to their 2nd grade pen pal! We are writing to Mrs. Oliver's class. 2nd grade will be coming to visit us in May.

Reading

We will begin a new unit on fairy tales. We will be reviewing some of our strategies and skills we learned this year throughout this unit like character, setting and plots of fairy tales. We also will talk about what elements make a story a fairy tale. There will be a quiz on Friday on the vocabulary words. The list is in the reading folder.

Science

Our next unit of study will be chapter 14: Heat Light and Sound.

Social Studies

We will begin Ch. 9 on economy. It is a chapter in our textbooks. It will be our last social studies unit in our textbooks!!!

Math

We will continue with ch. 9. This week we will finish up ch. 9 with a test on Wednesday. We won't have math on Thursday due to Wheel of Wisdom assembly. Friday, we will begin ch. 4 on multiplication. The plans for the rest of the year are to learn the basics of higher level multiplication and division in chapters 4 and 5. I don't "plan" on covering every lesson in these chapters. The plan is to cover just what they are expected to "master" this year which is multiplication of higher numbers by 1 digit and 2 digit. Division by 1 digit divisor with remainders. We will be taking a mad minute in division 10 this week. Almost done! 10's, 11's, 12's and mix!!! As a friendly reminder, stay on top of those multiplication basic facts. They are SO IMPORTANT for when we start ch. 4 and 5!!!!

ALSO FYI:

McGraw-Hill is offering the EM Games Apps for iPads and iPhones/iPod touches. The apps are available for $1.99.
The games that will be available include:

• Addition Top-it
• Subtraction Top-it
• Beat the Computer
• Name that Number
• Equivalent Fractions
• Tric-Trac
• Monster Squeeze
• Baseball Multiplication 1-6 Facts
• Baseball Multiplication 1-12 Facts
• Divisibility Dash

Check them out!

Week of April 18-22

Important Dates:

*Early Dismissal Thursday 4/21

*No school Friday 4/22

Classroom Chatter

Our class has earned a marble party for good classroom behavior. Information about this special party will come home Monday!!!! Good job third graders!!!

Thanks for everyone who came to our Open House last week. It was great to see everyone!

Spelling

There is no spelling this week due to the shortened week.

Reading

We will continue with our poetry unit. We will continue to discuss stanza, rhythm, and rhyme while we work on our poetry projects in class. Students will be sharing their favorite poem from their project on Wednesday for a "Poetry Cafe" in our room!!

English

We will continue with expository writing. We also will be writing letters to 2nd graders.

Science

We will finish up magnets and electricity this week. The test is scheduled for Wednesday, 4/27. A study guide will come home this week in the science folder.

Social Studies

We will begin a new unit the following week. It is a unit on economy and we will use our textbooks.

Math

We will take a Check Your Progress on lessons 1-5 on Monday. We will learn about multiples and how to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators. Thursday we will take a CYP on lessons 6-8. Friday, we will study probability. We will take a mad minute in division 9's this week.

Week of April 11-15

Important Dates

*Chicago Mobile Due Monday 4/11

*Open House Thursday 4/14

*Social Studies Quiz Thursday 4/14

*Spelling Test Friday 4/15

*Reading vocab quiz Friday 4/15

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget that Thrusday in our Spring Open House and Book Fair. Stop in and see our classroom from 6:30-8! It's CHICAGO theme in 3rd grade...so come in your favorite sport's team gear! :)

In music class, Ms. Wyse is done with the recorders for now. She is holding on to them in her room for safe keeping. If you child still has theirs at home, please bring it in. Thanks.

Spelling L. 21 words are spelled with the VCCV (vowel, consonant, consonant, vowel) pattern. The test is Friday. Homework is due Friday.

Reading We will spend the next two weeks on a poetry unit. There will be a quiz on the vocab words for poetry on Friday.

Science We will finish up Chapter 13 with lesson 3: How electricity and magnets related.

Social Studies We will have a quiz on the History of Chicago on Thursday. A study guide is in the social studies folder. The Chicago Mobile is due on Monday. Please have your child turn in the rubric with their project. Thanks!

Math We will begin chapter 9: Addition and Subtraction of Fractions. We will take a mad minute of divion 8. There will be a CYP on lessons 1-5 on Friday.

Week of April 4-8

Important Dates:
Monday 4/4 Classes Resume from Spring Break
Tuesday 4/5 No school Teacher Institute
Friday 4/8 Spelling Test and Reading vocab quiz



Classroom Chatter
Hope everyone had a wonderful spring break! Don't forget there is no school Tuesday for Teacher Institute. Enjoy the day off!


Spelling
L. 20's words are spelled with the vowel sound in sound and bought. There will be a pretest on Monday. The test will be Friday. Homework will be due on Friday.



Reading
We will reading the story The Mysterious Giant of Barletta by Tomie DePaola. While we read, we will review metacognition, sequencing, and making connections. We will also review compare and contrast as we look at some other stories by Tomie DePaola. There will be a vocab quiz Friday on the words from the story, The Mysterious Giant of Barletta. The vocab list will come home Monday in the reading folder.
***ALSO, please have your child bring their biography scrapbook back to school. I would like to display them at Open House. ANOTHER THING, please send in a favorite recipe. We need it for an activity on following directions! Thank you!



English
We will begin expository writing this week.


Science
We will continue with chapter 13. This week we will study magnets in lesson 2.


Social Studies
We will continue our study of Chicago. We will finish up talking about the history of Chicago this week. Students received information about a Chicago Mobile project to work on at home. They are to pick 3 Chicago landmarks to make for their mobile. The rubric and instructions page is in their social studies folder. This is due April 11.


Math
We will take a mad minute in division 7 this week. We will continue with fractions this week. We will learn how to compare and order fractions. We will do some problem solving this week too. The chapter 8 test is scheduled for Friday, 4/8.

Week of March 21- March 25

Important Dates:

English test Friday 3/25

Spelling test Friday 3/25

Geometry projects due 3/25

Spring break 3/28-4/1

Spelling
L. 19's words are spelled with the vowel sounds in tooth and cook. There will be a pretest Monday. The test will be Friday. The homework is due Friday.

Reading

We will finish up biographies this week with sequencing, main idea and connections. Students will be sharing their biographies to the class on Monday. They are encouraged to dress up like their person for their presentation, however it is their choice! Their biographies will came home to practice reading out loud. We will also be reading Ramona Quimby, Age 8 this week.

English

We will finish up pronouns with a test on Friday. A study guide will come home Monday.

Science

We will learn about magnets this week!

Social Studies

We will continue with Chicago by learning about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871! Students will receive information about a Chicago's Landmark's mobile project they are to work on at home over the next several weeks.

Math

We will take a CYP on Monday over lessons 1-5. This week we will learn about factors, lowest terms, and mixed numbers. We will take a CYP on lessons 6-8 on Friday. We will take a mad minute in division 6's. Geometry projects are due Friday!!!

Week of March 14-18

Important Dates:

*Science Test on Energy Tuesday 3/15

*Reading vocab Quiz Tuesday 3/15

*St. Patrick's Day Thursday 3/18

*Spelling Test Friday 3/18

Classroom Chatter

Lorin was a lucky winner of a fire truck ride here at Prairieview. He was selected because he does an outstanding job demonstrating being respectful, being responsible, and being safe! Way to go Lorin!

Spelling

L. 18's rule is changing y to an i. The prestest will be Monday. Homework will come home Monday. The test will be Friday. Homework will be due on Friday.

Reading

We will take a quiz on Tuesday over the 5 biography words. The page to study is a workbook page in your child's reading folder. We will continue with sequencing of events, as well as finding facts, as we work on our biography scrapbooks this week. Your child selected a biography to read at home. They should be reading it every night until it is finished. They are also supposed to use a post-it to book mark 6 important events they will want to include for their scrapbook. We will work on the scrapbooks in class together. Any questions, email me! jcsorba@ccsd66.org

English

We will continue with Unit 6's study of pronouns. This week we will do some writing with pronouns, learn how to use I & me, possessive nouns, contractions, and using there, their, and they're.

Science

We take the chapter 12 test on energy on Tuesday.

Social Studies

We will begin our next unit, Chicago. It's my kind of town!

Math

We will take a division 5 mad minute this week. We will begin chapter 8, fraction concepts. Don't forget that the geometry projects are due Friday 3/25. They may be turned in earlier if finished before then! We will take a CYP on lessons 1-5 on Monday 3/21!

Week of March 7-11

Important Dates:

No school Monday 3/7 Pulaski Day

ISAT test Wednesday 3/9

Egypt test Thursday3/10

Classroom Chatter

All of third grade will be taking the last math ISAT test on Wednesday.

Spelling

L. 17 this week deals with prefix and suffix. The pretest will be Tuesday. The test will be Friday. Homework this week will go home Tuesday and due on Friday.

Reading

While reading some short biographies in our basal, we will be focusing on sequencing events. Students will also be selecting their own biography this week to read at home. They will be locating 6 important events to make a biography scrapbook in class. More info about this will come home next week!

English

We will begin unit 6, Pronouns! We also will be finishing typing our autobiographies.

Science

We will take the ch. 12 Energy test on Tuesday, 3/15. A study guide went home on Thursday. It is in the science folder.

Social Studies

Our Ancient Egypt unit has come to an end. We will take the test on Thursday 3/10.

Math

Information about the geometry project came home last week. Please let me know if you have any questions! Have fun with it. It is due Friday, 3/25. Please turn in the green rubric with it. If your child finishes early, they can turn it in at any time! We are taking the final ISAT test on Wednesday. Thursday, we will play a review game. Friday is the chapter 11 test. We will be catching up with division mad minutes. Next week (3/14), we will start division 5's. ***I've added 3 links to some math games online. Gamequarium is a great place to play mulitiplication and division AND other math concepts! Have fun!

February 28-March 4

Important Dates:
ISAT testing begins: 3/1
P/T Conferences 2/28, 3/1, 3/2, 3/3
Report cards 3/1
No school Friday 3/4
No school Monday 3/7

Classroom Chatter:

If you have not already, please send a letter of encouragement, for the ISAT tests, sealed in an envelope to school on Monday with my name on it. The letters will be distributed on Tuesday for the students to read.

ISAT testing begins this week. The schedule is as follows:
Monday Feb. 28: No testing
Tuesday March 1: Reading I
Wednesday March 2: Reading II, Math I
Thursday March 3: Reading III, Math II
Friday March 4: No school!
Monday March 7: No school!
Tuesday March 8: No Testing
Wednesday March 9: Math III

ISATs: Please take some time to check out the Illinios State Board of Education (ISBE) website below for important information regarding the upcoming ISAT test your child will be taking starting March 1, 2011. The Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) measures individual student achievement relative to the Illinois Learning Standards. The results give parents, teachers, and schools one measure of student learning and school performance.

Click here to find sample books for this year and previous years. These sample booklets will show you the types of questions your child will be answering in reading and math.
http://www.isbe.net/assessment/htmls/sample_books.htm

Click here for more information regarding the ISAT and student assessment.
http://www.isbe.net/assessment/isat.htm

We are now in our 3rd trimester. Reports will come home Tuesday. Today, your child came home with their MAPs scores. Please look in their binders for them.

Please mark your calendars for March 15th for the Parent Connect meeting to learn more about how to interpret your child's MAPS scores.



Spelling
No spelling this week due to ISAT testing.

Reading
We will continue to review for the ISAT tests this week as well as take the reading portion during our scheduled reading time. See schedule above!

English
We will finish typing our final copies of our autobiographies.

Science
We will finish up our energy unit with lesson 3. Students will learn about fossil fuels and renewable and non-renewable resources.

Social Studies
We will finish up our Egpyt unit this week. We will be taking the Ancient Egypt test after ISAT testing is over with. It is tentatively planned for Thursday 3/10. This week I'll send home a study guide.

Math
We will take a mad minute in division 4. We will have the chapter 11 test on Friday, 3/11. We will actually finish the chapter this week, but due to ISAT testing and a day to play a review game, the test is scheduled for after ISAT's. Also, information about your child's geometry project will come home. It will be due Friday 3/25.


HAVE A GREAT WEEK! ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO DO THEIR BEST ON THE ISAT'S! REMEMBER A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP AND HEALTHY BREAKFAST!!!!

Week of February 21-25

Important Dates:

*No school Monday 2/21 Presidents' Day

*End of Trimester 2 - Friday 2/25

*ISAT testing begins the week of 2/28

*P/T Conference week of 2/28

Classroom Chatter

Don't forget to have your child return conference forms.

Spelling

No spelling this week. We will be using this time to work on prefix, suffix, and base words.

Reading

We will continue working on extended response. Your child learned a song and a small "dance" to remember the steps to writing an extended response. Ask them about it! Maybe they'll "dance" and "sing" it for you!

English

We will begin writing our autobiographies this week!

Science

We kicked off chapter 12 by learning about energy. We learned about kinetic energy and potential energy. Your child should bring in 4 pictures of examples of kinetic energy and 4 pictures of examples of potential energy from magazines, the internet, or handmade. This week we will learn all about how energy can be used.

Social Studies

We are continuing with our study of Ancient Egypt. We didn't get a chance to start our new book, Tut's Mummy Lost and Found. We will this week.

Math

We will take a division 3 mad minute this week. We started chatper 11: Perimeter, Area, and Volume. This is a continuation of geometry. At the end of this unit information about a Geometry Project will come home. There will be a check your progress on lessons 1-3 on Tuesday 2/22. Just a reminder with CYP's, they are NOT tests. They are assignments done in class for a grade. Students can use their notes in their spiral and textbooks to help them and ask me questions!!!

Students also are working on making solid figures. They were sent home on Friday to assemble. We will be making some solid figures with toothpicks and marshmallows on Tuesday!!!

Week of February 14-18

Important Dates:

Matter Matters Monday 2/14

Valentines Day Party Monday 2/14

English test Wednesday 2/16

Spelling Test Friday 2/18

Classroom Chatter

Monday we will make up the inschool field trip, Matter Matters. It was canceled due to our snow day.

Monday, students will have an opportunity to pass out Valentine's to the class. We have 26 students. Students should just sign their own name. They do not need to put students' names on Valentines. Please do not send in any candy for your child to pass out. Thanks. We also will have our party in the afternoon!

Spring Conferences are going to be held the week of 2/28. Information about them will come home today, 2/11/11.

Spelling

We will not have a regular spelling list this week or next week. We will spend the next two weeks working on prefixes, suffixes, and base words. There will be a test on this Friday, 2/28. We will keep all information in our spelling folder to study.

Reading

We will spend this week writing extened responses. While working on these responses we will focus on making inferences, locating text proofs, and interpreting.

English

We will take the Unit 5 test on capitalization and punctuation on Wednesday. A study guide is in the English folder.

Science

We will begin chapter 12 on energy.

Social Studies

We will begin a study on King Tut. We will read, Tut's Mummy Lost and Found.

Math

We will take a division 2 mad minute. There will be a test on Geometry on Wednesday 2/16.

Week of February 7-11

Important Dates

*100th day of School Wed. 2/9

*Spelling Test Friday 2/11

Classroom Chatter

Hope everyone enjoyed the snow days! We rescheduled our in school field trip, Matter Matters, for Monday, 2/14.

Spelling: This week's list is L. 16 "adding endings" to words. The test is Friday. Homework is due Friday.

Reading: We will continue working on identifying main idea and details this week. We will also work on writing some extended responses to text we read.

English: We will spend this week learning about introductory words, commas in a series, writing good sentences, and quotation marks. We are coming to the end of this unit. I have the test tentatively planned for the following week. Right now it is scheduled for Wednesday, 2/16.

Science

We will begin chapter 12 on energy!

Social Studies

We will spend this week learning about Cleopatra and King Tut.

Math

We will finish up taking a mad minute in mixes. Start practicing division facts for the week of 2/14! We will study similar figures, flips, slides & turns, coordinate graphs, and some problem solving with and without extended responses to finish up chapter 10.

Week of January 31-February 4

Important Dates:

*Matter Test Tuesday 2/1

*Matter in-class field trip Wed. 2/2

*Spelling Test Friday 2/4

Classroom Chatter

We are excited for the scientists from High-Touch High-Tech to come to our classroom for Matter Matters presentation. Ask your child about it! They come on Wednesday!

Spelling: This week we will focus on List 15: vowel plus r sounds. The homework will be sent home Monday and due Friday. The graded test will be on Friday.

Reading: We will continue working on all of our reading strategies, especially identifying main ideas and details as we use various reading materials (novels, short stories, and leveled readers). We will also be working on writing extended responses to texts.

English:

We began Unit 5 Capitalization and Punctuation last week. This week we will learn about abbreviations, book titles, introductory words, commas in a series, and practice writing good

sentences.

Science

We will finish up Matter with a test on Tuesday. The in-class field trip is Wednesday on Matter Matters.

Social Studies

We will continue our study of Ancient Egypt! We are reading a non-fiction book called Eye on Ancient Egypt. Ask your child about it and what they've learned about the pyramids, pharoahs, and the after life! Oh MY!

Math

We will take a mad minute in mix this week. We also will continue with our geometry unit. This week we will study polygons, quadrilaterals, and triangles. I tentatively have the test planned for Friday, 2/11. Also, information about the Geometry project will come home the following week!!

Week of January 24-28

Important Dates:

*Friendly Letter Test Tuesday 1/25

*District Spelling Bee Tuesday 1/25

*Spelling Test Friday 1/28

Classroom Chatter

I'd like to give a big congratulations to Maks for winning our 3rd grade spelling bee! He advances onto the District Spelling Bee this week on Tuesday! Good luck Maks!!!

Matter Presentation: We will have an in school "field trip" about matter on Wed. 2/2 about matter. The cost of the presentation will be covered with the money from last years canceled field trip (when your child was in 2nd grade).

*Reading: We will continue to work on our novels as we practice the strategy of making connections.

*Spelling: This week we will focus on List 14: homophones. The homework will be sent home Monday and due Friday. The graded test will be on Friday.

*English: The test on Friendly Letters will be Tuesday. We then will begin Unit 5 on capitalization and punctuation.

*Science: We will finish up matter with lesson three: How matter changes. The test is scheduled for Tuesday 2/1. A study guide will come home Monday to help prepare. This will be our first test in science we will take this year.

*Social Studies:

We will begin a study of Ancient Egypt!

*Math:

We will take a mad minute in x12. We will begin chapter 10 on geometry.

Week of January 17-21

Important Dates:

*No school Monday 1/17 Martin Luther King

*Culture Day Thursday 1/20

*Friendly Letter Test Friday 1/21

*Spelling Test Friday 1/21

*Book Orders due Friday 1/21

Classroom Chatter

Scholastic Book orders went home on Friday. They are due 1/21. Info about online ordering was attached to the packet! Thanks in advance for your orders!

Spelling

We are back to our normal spelling routine next week with Lesson #13. We will pretest on Tuesday and assign the corresponding homework. The spelling challenge students will only have to pick two assignments from the list and all other spelling students will have a shortened assignment as well due to the 4 day week. The homework will be due on Friday and we will have the test that day also!

Reading

As we begin/continue our novel studies this week we will be targeting the reading strategy of questioning. As always, we will also continue to review and refine our work with the other strategies that we have already introduced, but will highlight questioning this week.

English: We will finish up our Friendly Letter unit with writing a friendly letter to someone. You child will come home with an envelope this week (probably Thursday). It will just need a stamp. We will mail our letters at the end of this week.

Science: This week we will learn about solids, liguids, and gases in chapter 11 lesson 2.

Social Studies

We will wrap up Chapter 3 with Culture Day on Thursday, 1/20. We look forward to learning more about our classmates!!

Math

We will take a mad minute in x11 this week. We will have a test on chapter 7: Statistics and Probability on Thursday 1/21.

Week of January 10-14

*English Test Tues. 1/11

*MAPS testing 1/11 and 11/14

*Juggling assembly 1/12

Classroom Chatter

Spelling Bee: Before winter break, a word list was sent home with your child to help them prepare for the spelling bee. We will have a "practice" bee on Tuesday and our classroom spelling bee will be on Friday. The top 2 spellers will advance to the grade level bee, which will take place on Wed. 1/19. The top 2 spellers in the third grade will then move onto the district wide spelling bee which will take place the week of 1/24.

Our school earned a PBIS assembly for good hallway behavior. On Wednesday, we will have an assembly with a juggler!!! Ask your child about it!

This week our class will be taking a MAPS test in reading and math on Tuesday and Friday. There will not be math and reading on those days.

*Reading: We will continue to work on the reading strategies of monitoring and clarifying what we read as well as distinguishing facts and opinions while concluding our work with the story Nights of the Pufflings or starting a novel study. We will also be reviewing various other reading strategies to comprehend our reading materials.

*Spelling: Due to MAPs testing this week, we are working on synonym practice during spelling. We will not have a test this week or spelling homework. We will be working on a unit of "snowy synonyms". We will be back to working on Lesson #13 the following week.

English

We will take the test on adjectives and adverbs on Tuesday, 1/11. A study guide went home in the English folder last week. We will then begin a unit on Friendly Letter writing.

Science

We will continue learning about matter. This week we will learn about solids, liquids, and gases.

Social Studies

We will finish up Chapter 3 with lesson 4: A New Life in America. Our culture day will be on Thursday 1/20. Information about Culture Day came home this week. Please let me know if you have any questions! We look forward to a fun day learning about each other! I enjoyed reading everyone's idea sheets!

Math

We will continue with chapter 7. We are taking mad minutes in x10 this week. We will be finished soon. I tentatively have the test scheduled for Thursday, 1/20.